Tool Time Filler

Posted by Cynical Sarah on March 12, 2007

Every once in a while I’m seized by the need to do things around the house. Not typical sweep, mop, dust kind of things – in general I have a severe aversion to those things – but project kind of things that require tools, supplies, time and lots and lots of patience.

Lately those urges have been for things to do with organization. I want more shelves and ways to organize things in different rooms. I’ve been on the lookout for a shelf and towel bar combo for my bathroom as well as a pot rack for in the kitchen.

The lack of finding something suitable for either of those projects resulted in me focusing on something else to do for my Sunday full of nothing better to do.

In my infinite wisdom, and influence of hours upon hours of home makeover shows, I decided to transform our fairly unused bedroom dresser into a cabinet. One of the drawers was completely frozen in it and the bottom drawer couldn’t be used unless we put the legs back on the dresser anyway.

So I figured I could make a cute little cabinet instead that we can put trendy little baskets in to hold stuff all neatly and tidily – again, the influence of hours upon hours of Trading Spaces or While You Were Out.

My grand plan was to detach the drawer fronts and turn them vertical and attach them like doors. I measured and made sure it would workout ok, then bought hinges so they could be attached together and open like a set of bifold doors.

It was a brilliant plan that was going to transform the look of the piece and give it more functionality for what we use it for. (Perhaps my next project will be to exorcise the designer demon who appears to have taken over my brain as I write this.)

Anyway, my entire plan hinged on being able to use the drawer fronts for the doors and the drawer bottom as the shelves inside. I didn’t want to have to do any sawing that could disrupt out neighbors here in the condo building.

The first hiccup in my plan came when, after disassembly the drawer fronts, I discovered that one of them was longer than the other three. That explains why it didn’t seem to fit right in the dresser, but also ruined my no-sawing plan. I’d already taken so much apart that there was no turning back, so out came the handsaw.

The were some minor mishaps while trying to put hinges on to connect the drawers and get them mounted on the cabinet frame. I managed to use my cordless drill and a variety of other tools without major incident. Though there is a little bit of “marring” to the front side of the doors where I went all the way through with the drill. That’s all fixable with a fresh coat of paint. Of course, that turns my one-day project into a second weekend project.

The second hiccup was a much more difficult one to solve. It turns out that the way the drawers were made, the drawer bottoms weren’t actually big enough to fit as shelves inside. I can cut things down, but I have yet to find a way to make boards longer to fit my needs.

Amy Wynn I am not, apparently. My one-day project has turned into multiple days and a need for paint since I wasn’t very delicate in my rebuild procedures. But, after one day, I did accomplish giving it doors and putting the legs back on the cabinet.

It may not seem like much, but it does look pretty cool, and I will get around to making it functional again as well.

That’s not bad for a girl with no carpenter training except for a few sessions of helping her dad with projects. It’s actually pretty empowering to do a project like that on my own and have it turn out as good as I hoped it would, sort of.

- Sarah L. Polson

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Tags: home improvement, humor

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